


From the Shadows

by PencilandPaper



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Little bita angst, No Romance, april pov
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28598934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PencilandPaper/pseuds/PencilandPaper
Summary: April is feeling that she can’t compete with all the cool mystic experiences that have happened to them, so she decides to travel to the hidden city to find something that can help. However, a new villain that keeps to the shadows wants all mutants off the street, starting with the turtles, and thinks April is the perfect way to draw them into a trap.(Basically April gets kidnapped). Exploring a new setting, a little bit of April’s dad may come in later, some scenes of just the fam vibing.Watch out for torture, light violence, and kidnapping. Mostly in later chapters.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

April O'Neil was ready for a fun night. She had the pizza, the popcorn, and a stack of DVDs tucked in her backpack and was trying not to hurry as she descended the ladder down into the sewers. It was movie night, and this time it was her turn to bring snacks.

She reached the bottom and followed the warm glow of lights through the tunnels. Faint voices and the occasional shout could be heard up ahead, and Mikey's familiar voice echoed down the tunnel almost constantly. April smiled to herself. It would be nice to have a nice quiet evening with her friends, without mutants or mystic battles and the general mayhem that came along with the hidden city.

As if sensing her thoughts, Mayhem shifted on her shoulder.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love ya, buddy,” she patted him warmly on the head. Sometimes, though, she needed time to rewind from everything. She loved the hidden city, but she loved spending quality time with the fam much more. 

“Oi, Mikey! Pass the remote, will ya?” She heard Raph call as she entered the living room. 

“What?” Mikey replied, stopping his trip from the couch to the beanbag chair (a journey that involved bouncing across the room over a fuming Donatello). 

“The remote! We need to change the HDMI… the HD M one two… the, uh…”

“We need to switch the tv mode from HDMI1 to HDMI2 in order for the movies to play,” Donnie explained, grabbing the remote himself.

“Hey! April’s here!” Mikey called from his perch on the beanbag chair, waving his arms at her. 

“And she brought the pizza!” Leo called jubilantly, swooping by to liberate it from under her arm.

“Aw, yess, pepperoni and double cheese!” 

“Double cheese? What are we, animals?” Raph joked, reaching over Leo’s shoulder to grab a slice. April set down her bag near the door and Mayhem claimed a spot on a cushion across the room.

“Yes, yes we are.” Donnie replied to Raph, not looking up from his phone. 

“Oi, careful who you go around calling an animal,” April shot back, dropping down on the couch. 

“Sorry, ahem, everyone here  _ except April  _ is, in fact, downright reptilian.” 

“Damn straight.” She crossed her arms and leaned back to relax, when Donnie’s phone went off. So did the alarms throughout the lair.

_ Donnie detection system. Trouble in downtown NYC. Donnie detection system…  _ they jumped up at the automated voice. 

“Trouble in paradise, mis hermanos,” called Leo, grabbing another quick slice of pizza.

“You heard the man, let’s get to the tank.” Called Raph, rushing out of the room towards the garage.

April pushed herself up with a sigh. Along with pizza, movies, and snacks, she of course had brought over one final item; her bat. You never knew when you would be fighting crazed villians off the streets of NY, however they always seemed to attack whenever she was having a good time.

“Ooh, they’re gonna  _ pay _ for ruinin’ movie night,” she claimed savagely, Donnie grinning beside her as they jogged to the turtle tank. 

“Indeed they are,” he agreed, extending his tech bo with a savage grin. She followed the others into the tank, looking over Mikey's shoulder to see the GPS of where the report was coming in. Halfway across town. 

_ Just once,  _ she thought,  _ no crime on movie night. _ But she couldn’t help feeling a bit excited. She loved a good fight, and was waiting for an excuse to use her new and improved magicked baseball bat. And this was the perfect opportunity.

-/- 

They tumbled out of the tank to see a portal ripped open in the middle of a street, tentacles reaching out and suckering onto the surrounding buildings. Sounds from the hidden city could be heard from inside, and they saw glimpses of its red rocky ceiling. 

They also saw a not so friendly figure hacking away at the tentacles. Meat sweats was there at the scene, trying to chop a slimy squid arm off with a meat cleaver and tongs.

“I’ve got you know, you slimy sallow- bellied simpling!” He taunted it, leaping with surprising ease and grace for such a potbellied creature. 

“Oi! Sweaty! What’s the big fuss?” Raph shouted down at the former chef- turned- mutant. Meat sweats just grinned at the sight of them. 

“Ah, my favourite turtles! Are you here for the appetizer? They’re almost- served!” And with that, he finally chopped off the end of a tentacle. “We’re having calamari tonight, boys! And maybe, if you're lucky, a side dish of turtle soup!” And with the tentacle held in one hand, he leapt at the turtles, leaving the writhing monster stuck in the portal, half in one city and half in another.

Raph caught Meat Sweats on his first charge and threw him off to one side. 

“April! Donnie! See if you can get that portal to shut!” 

“On it!” April called back as she and Dee raced over to the massive rift in space. As the others fought Meat-sweats , they quickly surveyed the area for the best course of action. 

“I think I can close the portal if I can get in close!” Donnie yelled over the roaring of the mutilated monster, which was thrashing furiously. 

“I can distract it!” April called back before launching at the nearest tentacle with her bat, singeing the skin when the bat erupted into magical green flames. The tentacle spasmed then continued flailing, trying to find its quick- footed assailant. She ducked under a sweeping arm with a “woah!” and swung at another arm, which dodged her attack and wrapped around her tightly, whipping around and up into the air. But before it could pull her in to whatever this beast called a face, she hit it with her bat again and was dropped to the ground.

She was dropped to the ground, that is, on the wrong side of the portal. 

“Dammit! What’s a girl gotta do to stay on home soil nowadays?” Luckily for her, she was now roughly behind the creature. Fending off another wild arm, she crept her way to its pouchy head where it’s conical eyes were rolling madly. 

“April  _ Ooooo’Neil!”  _ she cried, swinging her bat up in an arc and hitting squarely where a normal creature would have a noise. The beast roared in fury and lashed out, but she hit it again on the side of the head and without a pause all the tentacles dropped. It lay unconscious on red and purple soil and the pavement of New York, one arm twitched eerily near its stumpy end where Meatsweats had cut it. 

“Oh yeah! April one, creepy yokai squid thingy zero. Boom!” She climbed over the edge of the portal back to the familiar city, grinning. “THATS what you get for interrupting my evening,” she told its lazy half-lidded eye, which was becoming milky and clouded. 

“Yo Donnie, how’s that portal going?”

“Fascinatingly so! The energy used for this particular portal reminds me of my mystic crystal- see the magenta glow around its edges? That hints to a use of-“

“We get it, D, it was made by science or whatever.” Raph came over, trailed by Mikey and Leo. Meat Sweats was nowhere to be seen. “But can you close it? I don’t think people take kindly to intro-dimensional portals blocking their way to work.”

“Geeze, April,” Leo said, kicking at a limp tentacle. “We weren’t going to have sushi night till Wednesday.”

“Look at this thing!” Mikey crowed excitedly. “Where did it come from?”

They peered through the portal. The lights of the city weren’t too far away, but a lake shone still as glass to their right. 

“Probably from that under ground natural spring. However the genetic classification that this genome would fall into would suggest it prefer a saltier environment.” 

“Well, Rupert was right about one thing! It sure would taste good with a bit of salt!” Mikey said gleefully.

“But where, my broseph, would we find a grill large enough to cook it?” Leo asked, seriously considering Mikey’s suggestion. Raph jumped in, the mention of food being all he needed to get onboard.

“I’ll tell ya  _ where,”  _ he grinned at them, pointing at the portal. “In the Hidden City!”

“And we’ve got a first-class trip to get us there!” Donnie added, stepping up beside them and gesturing at the purple portal.

“Whaddaya say, guys? Are mystic munchies on the menu tonight?” Mikey asked, stepping towards the portal. 

“They are now! Beat ya to the midnight market!” Leo cried as he raced past him, jumping through the portal with his orange clad brother on his heels. 

“Wait for me! I ain’t missin’ out!” Raph called, racing after them. Donnie sighed. 

“Well, there go  _ my  _ plans for the evening.” He frowned at the time. April looked up from staring at the monster she may have  _ accidentally _ killed.

“ _ Thank _ you!” She cried, “ _ I  _ was ready to sit back and watch  _ Jupiter Jim III, Attack of the Alien-“  _ her face froze as she was cut off.

_ “- _ But I guess I’ll have to study a different new, laws of physics breaking portal. Ah, well.” Donnie finished, typing final bits of information into the wrist pad. He looked up at April.

“You comin’?” He asked, tilting his head at the glowing city ahead of them. She was still staring at him, slightly dumbfounded. 

“Uh- actually- I didn’t bring any unicorns with me tonight. You know what, um… maybe I’ll skip out on adventure tours this time.” Her hands were jammed in her pockets and she started stepping back, towards  _ home _ and  _ fun _ and  _ the pizza I spent twenty bucks on and all the snack I bought and- _

Donnie shrugged. “Suit yourself. Ka-  _ chow! _ ” He jumped through the blazing portal just as it snapped shut, leaving nothing behind but the tips of a few tentacles and the after smell of electricity and mystic energy.

And one lonely girl, who, deep down, would have loved to go to the city, but was too stubborn to admit it.

“So much for movie night,” she muttered to herself, starting a slow walk back up the street.

From across the road, a camera flashed. It had been snapping shots all evening from the cover of a dusty minivan. A man checked his photo reel, then silently drove off.

-/-

“Was your trial run a success, ma’am?” A scratchy voice whispers out of the darkness. In the middle of a cold stone room sat a hunched, spiky figure, which tapped its sharp metal talons into the arm of its throne modelled chair.

“Indeed, Brion, it was.” An ancient voice hissed back, wretched and evil. “The pig mutant took little time in trying out my new portals for me. And those turtle mutants were drawn out of hiding in no time.” 

“Yes, they seemed quite excited about the whole situation, ma’am.”

The dark figure laughed softly. “Why yes indeed. Of course, my success was only thanks to you and your agent’s intel that the pig mutant would try anything for new meat to sear and serve on a platter. However did you coax that tentaclon out of hiding and halfway through a portal to the surface?”

“Aw well blimey, ma’am…” a little lizard- looking Yokai slithered out from where it had been clinging to the wall in the shadows. “Nothing old Brion couldn’t do for his mistress.” He sounded almost bashful, as bashful as a creature who delighted in the torture of others could sound. Again the dark mistress laughed.

“What would I do without you, Brion? Now tell me, what are those  _ turtles  _ up to now?” She spat the word “turtles” like they were an abomination. An abomination that she particularly didn’t like.

“Well, ma’am, you heard the reports of the fight with Swaggart, but after he and the tentaclon were defeated, they went through the portal to the hidden city.”

“Interesting… very interesting…we must get the footage of the fight and analyze their weaknesses for our future plans”

“Of course, ma’am.” He hesitated then. “..there’s, uh, one more thing, ma’am.”

She paused, waiting expectantly.

“It’s just, uh… it’s quite unusual actually. You see, it wasn’t the turtles who defeated the tentaclon in the end.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“You see, er- there was another, um,  _ person,  _ with them. And she defeated it. And then left.”

“A  _ person?”  _ There was a warning in her tone as she said ‘person.’ Brion nodded hastily, licking his salamander lips nervously. 

“She was a- a human, ma’am.”

“A  _ HUMAN _ !” She roared, loud enough that even the shadows cowered and the ceiling rained dust. “A disgusting, vile, little dastardly  _ human!”  _ She panted for a moment, calming herself. If there was one more thing she hated then the little mutant infestation that was creeping through New York, it was its hairy, two-legged inhabitants that ran the city by day. 

“Why was a  _ human _ present among a battle between mutants and Yokai?”

“You see, miss, she seemed to be- their friend.” Brion’s voice was cautious now, afraid to set off another episode in his mistress. 

“Their _ friend _ , you say?” Her talons began slowly clicking against the arm of her chair as she thought to herself. “Interesting…. very interesting, indeed.” Then the faint light of the dungeon like room glinted off sharp teeth, for she had smiled. Brion knew this smile; it meant his mistress had a plan.


	2. April’s Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April comes up with an idea to make next weeks evening more fun. She needs splinter to complete her plan, however.
> 
> Meanwhile, we learn a little more about the “creepy voice” and Brion, and don’t forget about the man in the van!

April was lost deep in thought as she wandered back home, and remained stuck in thought as she crashed down on her bed in her apartment. Her mom was on a two- week business trip to Japan, so she didn’t have to worry about curfew for the next little while. 

_Not that I’ll have much to do past curfew, beside saving the city,_ she thought peevishly. I felt like nothing got the group more excited then mystic portals and mutants and magic anymore. And April had to admit, it was more fun and exciting fighting crime that could throw a few magic punches back. But compared to portals and other dimensions and monsters, it seemed like a simple night of movies and snacks couldn’t compete with the fun and adventure of the new Yokai world, and April couldn’t help but feel a little left behind for still thinking that the activities they did together previously were still fun. Were still worth doing together. 

_Enough, O’Neil._ She chided herself, laying a hand over her eyes. But these thoughts kept eating at her conscious, keeping her in a sour mood. She _could’ve_ gone with the guys to the city, but it felt like they were choosing a simple night on the town over an evening that she had spent time planning. Over an evening in the human world.

Ah, there it was. The human vs. Yokai world- and where did April fit in all of this? The boys had connections to both worlds, and ways of accessing the hidden city whenever. But a human hand signal didn’t open Huesos, and when a human tried to open a dumpster portal, all they got was a plain old pile of trash. And maybe April felt a little left out about this. Just a little.

Perhaps she felt like tonight the boys chose the Yokai world over the human world. The Yokai world over her. Because she hadn’t quite answered her question yet; where did she fit into all of this? Was she meant to lead a normal life and join the Yokai world only when it invaded her own? Or should she work to be more connected to it, despite being human and having no individual access to it at all?

She sighed as her stomach growled at her. _Enough questioning your place in the universe. Time to find some food._

The double cheese pepperoni pizza was definitely cold and lonely somewhere on the lair floor. Or in Splint's belly by now. She opened the fridge and brought out a container of leftovers, shoving it into the microwave. If only she could bring something to the table that was just as exciting as Yokai and Mystic stuff. She watched her meal slowly spin behind the door. If only she could find a way… 

Ding! The timer went off and she impatiently brought her food out to the table. She had an idea, and it was going to involve a little subterfuge and the bribery of one particularly food motivated rat.

-/-

“Woah! Check out that dude on the corner over there! He’s got seven eyes!” Leo exclaimed to Raph and Mikey as they worked their way through the Night Markets stalls and stands. Donnie had caught up to them by now and walked behind Raph, peering curiously at mystic bits of tech and different portal amulets on display through his bicoloured goggles.

“Interesting. Nothing here matches the chemical or mystical signature of those particular portals.”

“What do you mean?” Raph asked, glancing back. 

“Yeah, why are so hung up on this portal thingy?” Mikey called back, half listening.

“Well, you see, _most_ portals are blue, and take something like an amulet, or a key, or a gateway to function.” Donnie explained. “And _most_ portals are long, and tunnel like, with various exit points that an _unwary traveller,_ ” and here he looked right at Leo’s back, “could fall through. But we could see straight through this one! And stand in two places at one!” Donnie shook his head. “It isn’t right!” 

Leo frowned at his brother. “What does it matter that there’s a different kind of portal? We got our own mystic portal-whipper-upper right here!” He raised his odachi for emphasis, twirling it dramatically.

“We’ll, it _matters_ because _someone_ made a technological advancement that I can’t figure out!” Donnie fumed. “One that breaks the laws of science and physics in a way even mystic stuff doesn’t normally do! I mean,” his voice was starting to raise, “ _you could stand in two cities at once and not be split down the middle!”_ Raph patted him comfortingly on his shoulder. 

“We’ll figure it out at some point. Maybe if we can track down where Meatsweats got a portal opener in the first place, we can find out more.” He soothed. Donnie tilted his head.

“What happened to Meatsweats anyways?”

“Oh, he _might_ have dropped his precious tentacle and Leo _might_ of portalled it into the middle of the river, and he _might_ be spending the rest of his night looking for it.” Mikey grinned. Raph nodded. 

“Emphasis on Leo _might_ have. He also _might_ have portalled it to another city, or country, or Jersey.”

Leo scoffed. “Even _I_ wouldn’t subject our enemy to having to search through a place like _Jersey._ I’m not that cruel.” The others nodded in agreement. Raph looked around again.

“Hey, where’d April get to?” He asked. Donnie shrugged nonchalantly. 

“Eh, she didn’t feel up to coming or something.”

“Huh. That’s odd.”

Mikey joined them. “Maybe she was just tired. I mean, she took out a whole entire tentacle beast! And not that we’re above killing savage attacking monsters, but that thing definitely was more than just “knocked out”.” 

“I’ll shoot her a text just to see what’s up.” Raph concluded. He was about to pull out his phone when a voice of a food vendor cut through the crowd. 

“Come one! Come all! Come feathered and clawed, and furred and fanged, and taste the marvellous, mouth-watering Jungji fruit from the far reaches of the known Yokai world!” A crowd started to form around the blue- patterned yokai in Indiana Jones style clothing in front of some barrels filled with little blue and pink berries that seemed to glow blue and gold. 

“Thaaaats right, folks! Fresh Jungji berries- rumoured to be the tastiest food ever to be found in the Yokai world- the entire world!” The boys oohed and awed along with the crowd, Raph holding up his phone to video. 

“They’re available only for a limited time! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to try Jungji berries! Only for the sweet sweet price of 50 unicorns per bag!” The crowd murmured appreciatively but the boy's spirits dropped. They _definitely_ did not have enough Yokai currency for that. They started to move on. 

“We’ll, that was a bust. Cool sight, though.” Leo noted.

“Ima send the video to April. Betcha she’d know a human restaurant that claimed they had the best food in the world too.” Raph said. He sent it. 

“Raph, dude, like over half the restaurants in New York claim that.” Donnie put in, “We could probably walk down the street right now and find another Yokai vendor peddling his wares, claiming the ‘best veggie stir fry” or “the world's greatest meat pie.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It still would be cool to try those Ju-ju berries though.”

“ _Jungji_ berries” 

  
“Whatever.”   
  


-/-

April watched the video that Raph had sent her last night one more time. It had given her a brilliant idea- what perfect timing! If she could bring those mystic berries to next weeks hangout, it’d be sure to get everyone excited!   
  


  
She had been plagued all night by thoughts of how to get to the hidden city without the boys knowing. That meant no using Leo’s odachi and no getting Raph to smooth talk Hueso into letting her use his access portals. She thought about going to Draxum but he didn’t seem to have enough knowledge of the human world yet to truly know where all the hidden portals were.

And Big Mama’s hotel was definitely out of the question. Which left one final person; Splinter.   
  
  


This morning she had shot him a text saying she had been trying out a new cookbook and was wondering if he wanted to pop over and try out the brunch she had “just whipped up.”

  
Which explains why she now had a mutant rat man aka former movie star slash jujitsu champion licking the syrup off his plate in her dining room.

”Thank you for the meal, April. I am never one to turn down a free meal, especially when said meal involves second breakfast!”   
  


“No problem, Splints. Just trying to spread some cheer.” She watched as he got up and prepared to leave, donning a hoodie to hide his ears and tail.   
  


“Well, I best be heading back to the lair. Are you coming over tonight?”

”Naw, I got plans with Sunita. We’re gonna, uh... we’re gonna go- wash- her pop’s- car?” She shook her head but Splinter didn’t seem to notice.   
  


“Ah, good luck with that.” He started for the door. Now it was time to make her move. She scooped up the half-filled trash bag from under the sink and pulled on her sneakers.   
  


  
“Wait up!” She called to him. “I’ll walk you down- I need to take out the trash anyways.”   
  


They made their way out of the building, April leading him the long out, to the back door that opened into a very particular alley. They walked past two garbage cans until they came to a large dumpster near a manhole cover. She quickly adjusted her grip on the trash bag so both hands were occupied and edged closer to the dumpster.   
  


“Aw, man!” She pretended to lament. “I can’t get it open- both my hands are full!”   
  


“Ah, let me help, April.” Splinter came over and pushed open the lid of the dumpster. He was too short to fully see over the edge- just as she had planned. That’s why, when she came over and tossed to bag into its pits, he couldn’t see the trash disappear into a spinning blue nebula.   
  


“Thanks man!” She grabbed the dumpster lid from him and set it against the alley wall before it could slam shut. “I’ll leave it open- I need to make a second trip for the- uh- bathroom garbage, too.”

”No worries, April. And thank you again for brunch! We should do it more often!” April was itching for him to go, as he eased the manhole cover off and wriggled into the sewers.   
  


“How about next Tuesday?” She called, helping him in (or, more accurately, pushing him down).

”Tuesday would be great. When-“

”Good talk! Bye!” She slammed the manhole back into place and headed back to the dumpster. Beneath the manhole, Splinter huffed. 

“Kids these days. Always in such a hurry.”   
  


-/-

  
April brushed off her hands as she stood on the lip of the dumpster, peering down at the portal Splinter had unwittingly triggered. She zipped up her sweater and grabbed the lid across from her so she could close as she entered. 

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered, then jumped, slamming the portal lid closed behind her.

Brion watched all this with interest from his perch on the wall. His lizard- hands stuck easily to the doings brick surface as he wriggled down and peered at the dumpster.   
  
  


“It seems,” he hissed, “that the mistress and I need to pay a visit to her former abode.” He paused and thought for a moment. How best to travel to the hidden city? Their own, personal portals were tested and ready to go, but they required a very limited energy source. And the dumpsters were much to uncouth for him to even consider for his mistress.   
  


There was one other option, but it meant involving a man that neither he nor the Heiress of Darkness liked interacting with. Still, it was he that had been keeping tabs on the turtles battles these past few weeks, and he had also informed Brion about the turtles existence in the first place. He sighed. If capturing the girl in order to bring down all mutant kind meant one terrible afternoon under a microscope, Brion could cope. For his mistress.   
  


And with that, he slithered off through the shadows to rouse Jillian and Craig. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well theres chapter two. I’m trying for a multi- plot (A plot B plot) story so tell me if it gets too confusing and I’ll simplify it! Any who, next up we’ll try to get into a little more action. Happy readings!


	3. The Return of the Heiress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April heads out to the Hidden City to find Jungji fruits for her friends. However, an evil presence follows her through the town.

April crept through the streets of the Hidden city market. It was relatively early for shoppers here, and the crowds were quite thin. Still, as she approached the berry busker from Raphs video, she could see that a line of Yokai had gathered and were waiting for him to open shop. 

She approached the stall and saw the blue Yokai vendor uncapping barrels filled with Jungji fruits. Perfect. She had been a little worried that, after the rush they had caused last evening, he would be sold out. She stepped up in line, and soon a witch talking to a frog-like creature in a green dress lined up behind her. She fiddled with her phone to pass the time.

“Did you hear? _She’s_ back.” 

_She?_ April thought. They couldn’t be talking about _her,_ could they?

“What? You don’t mean- you _can’t_ mean-“ the green clad frog stuttered in reply.

The witch nodded her head solemnly, the brim of her hat nearly poking April in the eye in the process. “Louis said she came in just this morning. Her forge was running green lights when I walked by it to get here, aswell.” 

The frog shuddered. “How _awful._ I wonder what kind of poor sucker got caught up in _that_ experiment.” April was fully listening now. Who was this _she_ they were talking about? And why was she so awful?

“And I thought she wasn’t allowed back for another twenty years!” The frog continued, _tsk_ ing to her companion. 

“Well, you try telling that to the most powerful sorceress the hidden city has ever seen.”

“Brr! No, I’ll stick to keeping my tongue, _thanks.”_

They switched to talking about different recipes for the berries they were about to purchase. April frowned. Most powerful sorceress the hidden city had ever seen? Illegally return to… the hidden city? Then where was she before that? 

April opened her mouth to ask them that but stopped herself; she didn’t want the two Yokai to know she had been listening. It was then that the pair seemed to decide the berries weren’t worth the wait, anyways, and they wandered off to buy “green-eared maggots” and the “new spell-tacular witches home brewery kit”. 

April stepped up to the blue Yokai after a fishy mutant paid. The vendor was down to his final barrel, and was checking his watch impatiently. 

“60 unicorns for a bag,” he told her. She frowned. Not only had they been worth fifty last night, but she had completely forgotten that she had only brought human money. Whoops.

“How much in, uh, cold hard cash?” He raised a furry eyebrow at her but sighed. 

“75 bucks for a bag.” She winced, but wasn’t one to back down from a challenge.

“Fifty.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Sixty-five.”

“Forty!” She demanded. Whoops. She had gotten too caught up in the number race, and forgot the number one rule; never do what she just did. The Yokai, however, was thinking. 

“Forty… forty…“ he muttered to himself. “Is that above fifty? No, _thirty_ is above fifty…”

April saw her chance and took it. “Thirty! I meant thirty!” The vender raised his eyebrows again, then nodded. “Thirty it is.” She counted out the cash, using smaller bills in the hopes he saw this as a lot of money and didn’t catch on that thirty wasn’t even near his starting price. Then she had a thought. 

“Hey, uh, sir…”

“Flemsby. Call me Phill Flemsby.” He swept off his hat and stuffed in the cash before securing it back on his head.

“Mr… uh… Flemsby.” 

“What can I do for you?” He was scooping the berries into a plastic bag that was obviously from the surface as it read _k-mart_ on it. April made a mental note to wash the berries before serving them. He had a stack of different plastic bags that he must collect and redistribute to customers.

“Uh… what would you know about, well,” she didn’t exactly have a name for this mysterious person, “ _her.”_ She settled on. Flemsby paused. He looked around shiftily. 

“I might know… something.” He crossed his arms, waiting. _Alright,_ April thought, _I’ll play your game._

“Well, I might _have…_ something.” She matched his suspicious tone and drew out a quarter from her pocket. “How about you tell me something for… twenty-five…?” She winced as it came out, sounding a lot stupider out loud. But Flemsby just raised his eyebrows. “Twenty five…” he echoed, reaching out tentatively with his hands to the single quarter she held out. She snatched it back quick.

“Uh-uh-uh! Information first.” She crossed her arms and looked down her nose at him. He folded his hands hesitantly. 

“They say… _she_ was a sorceress, banished from the city thirty- or maybe sixty?- years ago…” April nodded impatiently. She was starting to get a small suspicion that numbers were not his strong suit. Just a small suspicion. 

“She was banished, first from witch town, for practicing illegal blood-bound spells- later, she was banished again! She had tried to perform the great rite.”

“The great rite?” She asked, dropping all hints of bravado. He nodded. “What’s the great rite?”

“No-one knows!” He cried, waving his arms in the air, then crouched down again. “But legend said it is the same rite her great-grandmother tried to perform, a bajillion eons ago.” He whispered dramatically. April raised an eyebrow.

“A bajillion?” She repeated flatly. Flemsby simply nodded.

“And that’s why she’s banished from the city?” He shook his head.

“Oh, no, not the city! She’s banished from the portal realm; the area you go that’s in between _here_ and _there.”_

“In between here and where?”

“The human realm! She was sent to the surface, all those years ago, and forbidden from using the portaling system to ever return. But people say, she’s been biding her time on the surface until the day she can return, and complete the rite.” He shivered.

“Well, if she was banned from the portals, how did she end up back here?” 

“What!” He cried, jumping up. “She’s back? As in, back here? No, nononono,” he started scrambling to pack up his barrels and crates, chucking cloth and clothing onto a wagon hitched to a two-legged bird thing. April scrambled after him, helping him with the crates.

“Wait up! At least, give me something to _call_ her by!” 

He paused again, and shivered. 

“She calls herself…” 

“Yes?”

“The Heiress of Darkness.”

-/-

The Heiress of Darkness was, at the moment, in a particularly grim mood. She had just had to endure two hours with that insufferable human, whom Brion had found over a decade ago, in order to make it to her lab. But it was worth it. Oh, to be truly home at last! 

She got right to work cleaning out the dust and prepping the extraction centre. Well, her minions cleaned out the dust. She watched with an upturned nose. 

She spotted Brion squirming his way past a gargoyle with a mop and smiled humorously as he slipped on the wet floor. There wasn’t enough light in this part of her lair to glint of the water splashed across the floor, but the lack of light made the air so dismally dark that she couldn’t bring herself to add in more.

“Mistress!” Brion called, edging up to her throne. She tilted her head, feeling her peevish mood lift considerably.

“Goodness, my pet, whatever has gotten you in such a hurry?” He was panting, and sweat dripped down his forehead.

“Well, ma’am, I was surveying the girl- April, I believe the man called her.” She frowned at the mention of not one, but two humans. One of which had taken up her entire morning with his mindless chatter. 

Brion noticed her face darken. “It is good news, ma’am. She is here! In the city!” 

“ _Truly?”_ She hummed thoughtfully. “Oh, this _is_ good news.” 

“And that’s not the best part, ma’am! She entered the city without the knowledge of her mutant friends!” The Heiress grinned considerably now. 

“Oh, this is _perfect,_ Brion.” For not only did that mean she could keep this girl for a considerable amount of time without the interference of certain turtles, it also meant that she could choose when and how they figured out she was there. 

Which would make trapping them so much easier.

She stood up. “Where is she now?” 

“At the market. I set Jillian and Craig after her to make sure she doesn’t leave. Give the word, and they’ll take her in.

“Always planning ahead, Brion. But there’s one more thing.” She started towards her extraction centre, which glowed a green that made the grey stone cavern pale. 

“What is it, ma’am?” 

“That man that has been operating for us on the surface… he mustn’t know that we have the girl. Not just yet.”

Brion paused. “But, that’s cruel, mistress.” She raised an eyebrow. 

“And?”

“Well,” Brion let a small smile through. “It’s just been so _long_ since we’ve done something good and cruel.”

“It feels nice, doesn’t it, Brion?”

“Yes, mistress. Yes it does.”

She looked down at him, standing in the centre of the extraction ring. The sight of the first great rite. “You know what to do.” 

“Of course, ma’am.” And with that, he scurried off.

His mistress stood in the ring for a minute, thinking dark, twisted thoughts to herself. Only a short amount of time, then she’d have the power to rid the world of the mutants once and for all. And soon after that, the humans and the Yokai human-sympathizers. 

She glanced down at the vile on a string on her wrist. It was a quarter full of the blood their human operative had given them that morning. She had used the majority of it to take her here, and would be saving the rest in case things ever went- sour. It would not do to waste a drop of the mystic-human blood, not only because it was so hard to find, but because the price had been two long hours of answering questions the strange man had prattled off to her. She thought she had taken it all in stride, all things considered. 

And if she was lucky, she wouldn’t have to make deals with the likes of humans like Dr. O’Neil anymore. 

-/- 

Jillian and Craig were, for need of bluntness, jealous. They had followed this girl all the way from the flighty blue Yokai’s stall, and had watched with watering mouths as she stuffed her bag of Jungji berries into her pocket and wandered off. 

Craig had wanted to get a bag of the fruits himself but his sister, Jillian, had convinced him that if they got to take the girl today, they could just take _her_ berries and not spend a cent. So Craig was left to watch as April meandered her way through the stalls of the market towards the outskirts of town, until he spotted Brion squeezing his way between rocks and alleys, trying to stay to the shadows and blinking his buggy eyes at the bright lights of the city. He nudged his sister and they both pressed their cloaking broaches to signal to the mistress’s right-hand lizard that they saw him. Where a frog and a witch in frilly dresses had been standing moments before now stood two gargoyles, trained at the Goyles of Fortune school itself. 

Brion hurried over to them, blinking his watering eyes and huffing. 

“It’s time,” he told them. “Grab her and bring her to the lair, and be quick about it.” The two siblings nodded, and ducked into the crowd, making a beeline for April. And not bothering to use camouflage anymore.

  
  


April, for her part, was wrestling with the great joy of completing her mission to get the Jungji berries and the dropping feeling in her stomach that stemmed from the fact that she now knew a new evil had arisen in the Hidden city. She needed to tell Splinter and the guys immediately, and was relieved at the fact that her mom would be out of town for another week in case they had to deal with this “Dark Heiress” soon. She was so caught up in these thoughts, she didn’t notice the two hulking gargoyles coming up behind her.

She pulled out her phone and started texting a message to Donnie. 

A: _news of a new super villian on the hidden city streets. Keep an eye out for trouble._

D: _a new villian? Have they attacked anyone yet?_

...

D: _hello?_

But April never had the chance to respond. For just as she hit send, she felt a massive fist connect with the side of her head, and saw no more.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the turtles don’t appear much in this chapter! They’ll be in the next, I swear.
> 
> Anyways, to summarize what happened; the “Heiress of Darkness” is using the specialized mystic-human blood that she and Brion took from their human operative, and she used that to create a portal from the human world to the Yokai world. But she’s banned from portals…? More on that later. 
> 
> Also, it seemed in the show that gargoyles tended to come in pairs, so I made Jillian and Craig a pair of siblings (if that makes sense). 
> 
> Any who, thanks for reading!


	4. The Dilemma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April wakes up to find herself in hot water. And the boys start to suspect somethings up... 
> 
> There a bit of a time skip; 7 days later, then back to the time line. Bear with me- it’ll all make sense ;)

“Aw, yeah! Movie night!” Mikey celebrated, jumping on Raph’s shoulder. It was their turn to grab snacks, and they were making their way back to the lair through the maze of rooftops over New York. 

Raph felt his phone buzz in his pocket. 

“Yello?” 

“ _What_ is _taking you so long?”_ Came Leo’s voice, loud enough that Raph had to move the phone away from his ear. He put it on speaker so Mikey could hear.

“Yeah!” They heard Donnie chime from somewhere in the background. “Our online subscription to _Lou Jitsu; Hot Soup and Cold Shoulders_ doesn’t last forever!” 

“Re- _lax,_ ” Mikey cut in, “we’re almost there. And we’re only twenty minutes late!” 

“Only twenty minutes, he says.” Sighs Donnie. “As in, only twenty minutes wasted that we _could_ have been watching a show and eating tooth rotting treats!” 

“Hey, chill, bro. Mikey and I will be there in a sec. Ooh, and tell April we got her her favourite chip flavour. Raph, out.” He hung up on Leo and rolled his shoulders. “Whadaya say, Mikey? First one to the lair wins pizza dibs for the next week?” 

“Only if the loser has to give up candy rations from tonight’s snack pile.” 

“Deal! See ya from the podium-I’ll be sure to write!” Raph called, bounding forwards.

“Oh, you’re on!” Mikey called back, leaping after him and launching himself off the roof with a “Wah-hoo!” 

Meanwhile, Donnie and Leo were trying to get Donnie's laptop to work with the projector.

“Donnie, I think it’s _that_ cord that goes in there-“

“Leo. If there is one thing I know, it is technology, and hey wow it actually does go there.” The projector went blue for a minute then Donnies background saver came up- a photo of the bunch of ‘em at the park, building a snowman. Mikey was on Raphs shoulder, putting on a hat while Leo and April were locked in a who-can-last-the-longest-with-no-shoes-in-the-snow competition. Speaking of April…

“Hey, shouldn’t Apes be here by now?” Donnie asked, checking the time. 7:22. 

“Ya, Lemme check to see if she texted.” Leo, after fumbling around in the cushions for a minute, found his phone and turned it on. The screen was cracked from when he accidentally dropped it through a portal last Tuesday, and he refused to get a replacement or let Donnie anywhere near his precious device. “Who knows what he’ll do to it!” he had cried Tuesday evening after sharing the events of his dramatic phone-dropping to Raph and Mikey. So, the screen remained cracked until Donnie could sneak it away for a repair. And maybe a bit of tampering.

“Huh,” Leo said. “Nothing. You?” 

“Nada. I’ll call her.” 

“Eh-yo! Look who won the race!” Mikey slid into the room, a plastic 7-11 bag swinging from his arm. Raph came running into the door frame seconds later. 

“That’s only- _huff-_ because you cheated- _huff-_ by using the lampost as a fireman’s pole!” Raph leaned against the doorframe, heaving. Mikey only smiled.

“Uh-uh! _You’re_ just bitter that _I_ get all your gummy worms tonight! You can’t beat the best, Raph; just accept that now.”

“Never.” Raph set his bag in the middle of the room. “How we lookin, boys?”

“Well, the movie’s set up, the snacks have arrived and- oh, what’s that? This just in, we’re looking _fly.”_ Leo put extra emphasis on fly in a way that made Donnie roll his eyes. 

“Au contraire, my dear brother; we are not quite so _fly,_ as you put it. Not all of us are here.”

“Ya! Where’s April?” Mikey asked, peering down the hall to the kitchen. “Yo, Apes? Ya lost down there?”

Mikey, of course, received no reply.

Leo leaned heavily on Mikey's shoulder. “She’s not gonna be _hiding_ in the _kitchen_ ,” he taunted him, and Mikey smirked back at Leo. 

“Oh, yeah? Then where is she!” He sidestepped quickly and Leo toppled over. The two engaged in an impromptu wrestling match.

“Hey hey hey! Watch the projector!” Donnie abolished them as they rolled across the floor. Raph took out his phone.

“Come to think of it, I haven't heard from April since _last_ week's movie night.” He started to feel a little worried, noting the last thing on his messages to her was the video of the market stall in the hidden city and her smiley emoji response immediately after. That had been a week ago.

“Hmm. I got that text from her warning us about some new trouble in the Hidden City, but nothing after that.” Donnie frowned at his phone.

“How did she know about that trouble, anyways?” Asked Mikey. Donnie shrugged. 

“I assumed Sunita informed her. Her pop’s would definitely know all the Yokai latest news.” 

“Huh.” Raph kept frowning, and his worried feeling wouldn’t go away. Something didn’t feel quite right; however, he had just the quick fix for it. “Let’s just call her.” 

He tapped the contact labeled April O’l buddy o’l pal, and waited. Almost immediately he got her voice mail message: 

“Howdy! It’s April, I can’t make it to the phone right now I’m out kickin’ but. Please leave a message!” _Beep!_ “ _After the tone, please leave a-“_

“Nothin. Guys, I’m not liking this.”

“Not to worry, Raphael, for Donnies got the answer to all your queries!” Donnie announced. He typed quickly on his laptop. The projector shows him opening up a _find my friend_ protocol with the options for Mikey, Raph, Leo, Splinter, April, Sheldon, and Hueso.

“You got Hueso on there? Dude, you _need_ to show me how to do that.”

“On the contrary, Nardo, I do _not.”_ Donnie clicked on April’s name and waited while it buffered, a gps map of New York showing his own purple dot somewhere in the mess of backstreets.

“Why would you have _Huesos_ location stashed on your laptop?” Asked Mikey, making shadows in the projector light and blocking off half of Times Square.

“He seems like the kind of dude that would have a few… skeletons in his closet, if you catch my meaning, and yes, I did just make that joke.” Leo high-fived him while Mikey groaned. The laptop beeped.

Nothing came up. 

_User “April O’Neil” not found_ came the automated voice. Donnie frowned. He held down a button.

“Show user _April O’Niels_ last known location. Time, place, and _date,_ please.” It buffered again. Connection wasn’t the strongest in the living room.

“Can you do that- to, uh, all of us?” Asked Raph nervously. Not that he had anything to hide, but jeez, stalker much?

Donnie simply nodded. “Of course; how else would I know where to find you guys in a moment of need?”

_User April O’Neil last seen Saturday, At 11 am on 10th street…_ they listened as the voice droned out April’s address. That wasn’t good.

_User also used phone at 12:40 pm, location known, to contact_ Donatello _through iMessage. User April O-_ Donnie cut off the sound. He suspected he knew exactly when that was. 

He looked down at his phone. “Guys, call me crazy, but I think April found out about a new crime boss and then…”

“Disappeared!” Mikey finished. 

Raph cracked his knuckles. “Well, then, there’s only one thing we gotta do!” He picked up his tonfas and tested his grip. “We gotta go and find her!”

-/- 

“Mistress!” The heiress lifted her head from her work in her lab, as the sound of flapping feet echoed up the hall.

“Whatever could be so important that you would have to come and interrupt my _work,_ Brion?” She had been pouring over her new blood samples, testing their properties in small amounts to compare them to the Doctors sample she had gotten last week. All results had been promising. 

“It’s them! They’ve left the lair!”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes!” Brion cried, straightening his tie and standing a little straighter. “They all left the lair together, with weapons, and went to her apartment. Then the blue one tried making his own portal. I - I believe he succeeded.”

“You… believe?” She asked, perplexed for the moment.

“Well, yes- it was a very shoddy portal.” She sniffed dismissively. A ‘shoddy’ portal was a sign of an amateur- and she didn’t like dealing with amateurs. She herself had mastered the art of portal making in the thirty years she had been banished. It was a delicate process that required a fine touch, something she believed only a certain few could possess. 

“Oh, before I forget, Brion, cut off all contact with the Doctor indefinitely.”

“Ma’am?”

“I don’t want him getting wind of our little experiments. And his questions and demands have been quite tiresome for some time now. And of course, since we're back to operational,” she gestured at the cleaning and working Yokai that had filled the lab, “we won’t need him running any more errands for us.” 

Brion nodded. He had never liked the Doctor, anyways. He always had a camera, and pried into every snip of information Brion let slip in a frenzied, crazy manner. 

“Well, then,” the Heiress said, backing away from her work. “We should get our little guest ready. She has been _ever_ so helpful in our little experiments, hasn’t she, Brion.”

“Quite so, ma’am, quite so indeed.” April had proved to be quite the little science project since her arrival here last week. They hadn’t had a good prisoner to torment since their banishment from the portals.

The two were walking towards the extraction centre. Green glass panels lined the walls high above directly across from her throne, which overlooked the great rite circle and the runes related to it. To the average passer by that would walk by her lair, at first all they would see would be the dark shadows that pool between the area where a towering red cliff face met the ground. If they happened to peer into those shadows, though, they could look down into her labs and witness whatever form of torture she was inflicting that day. The same viewing option was set up in the prison sector; a design feature she had purposefully implanted when she had regularly reigned terror down on the inhabitants of the Yokai world. They were more willing to stay in line when they could witness first hand just what kind of horrid she could inflict

She shook her head from her musings and took a seat on her lavish throne. Shadows twined at her feet and Brion gazed up at her adoringly. His queen of shadows, his mistress of the night.

His Heiress of Darkness. 

“Shall I have April fetched, madam?” He asked. She nodded. “Tell Jillian and Craig to bring her here. Oh, and do be sure to bring an extra set of shackles.”

“How shall we be restraining her? Down on the altar? At the foot of your throne?” 

Here the Heiress paused to consider. 

“Have her restrained above the rite circle; a fly in a spiders web.” Brion chuckled gleefully. 

“I’ll get those extra shackles.” And with that, he hurried from the room to do his mistresses bidding.

-/-

_6 days prior..._

April lifted her head groggily. She didn’t know how long she had been out, but her stomach growled loudly. She tried rolling over but the pain in her head made her gasp. She realized she was lying on rough, stone ground. An imprint of gravel was stuck to her cheek as she pulled herself up to sit against the wall. She was in a cell.

She was in a _cell._

“What the-?” She said aloud, blinking owlishly. She noticed, with an annoyed frown, that her glasses were shattered on one side. Through the fractured glass, she could see a glowing green light. Looking up, she saw the door of her cell was actually interlocking green beams of mystic energy, which fizzled and popped continuously. Not good.

She whipped her head around as panic start to grow in ember am chest. She was trapped and had no phone but mostly-

She was all alone. 

_No, no, no, this cannot be happening,_ she thought, fumbling for her phone which she couldn’t find in any of her pockets. 

“No, no-“ 

“Hello, there,” a voice purred from the shadows. April started, then leaned forwards to peer between the bars of her cage. Something shifted in the shadows.

April wouldn’t call herself a scaredy cat. She could take on horror movies, even creepy haunted corner stores. 

But this… she felt a pit of apprehension rise and her throat went dry. She couldn’t tell why, but every bone in her body wanted to get away from whatever was standing just outside the pool of light.

“Aw, don't be frightened; it’s always so much more fun when they don’t start frightened,” the voice crooned, velvety and ancient and cruel. April gulped and crawled forwards, resting a hand against the bar to try and see-

_Bzzz!_ April yelped and drew her hand back from the stinging wall of energy that formed. She glowered at the lady in the dark.

“ _Tsk._ I wouldn’t do that if I were you. My cells were designed to keep people in- and people out. _Nothing_ gets through that force field unless I say so. Is that understood?” 

April refused to respond. _Is that understood, my ass,_ she thought, looking around for other ways of escape. He head throbbed at the motion and her vision wavered momentarily. Still, she refused to answer the shadowy voice. This seemed to anger her companion, for when she looked back, the mysterious lady had stepped out from the shadows.

April froze. She felt adrenaline rush up her back and her remaining courage disappeared.

It was the worst creature she had ever seen. And it was the first of many terrible things that the following week would entail.

“So glad to make your acquaintance,” the Heiress of Darkness purred into April’s cell, as April scrambled back to get as far away from her as humanly possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty. More on April to come! Also I have so much fun writing Brion. I almost wish he wasn’t a villain. 
> 
> Some reference to torture coming up next- so watch out! 
> 
> Also, April’s Dad will be making more of an appearance. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	5. The Dark of the City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We explore different perspectives regarding the week of April's capture. How is the hidden city going to react to the return of the dark heiress? 
> 
> Also! Watch out for scenes of torture in this chapter and the next.

It was a question of morals, officer Padlaw thought to herself as she reviewed the case. 

Whether it was better to obey the law set out to the last letter, or realize that law may now be rendered obsolete and therefore a necessary step had to be taken to remedy it.

For the Heiress hadn’t  _ actually _ broken any rules, Padlaw concluded. She  _ hadn’t  _ entered the portal realm; she  _ hadn’t  _ broken the rules of her banishment. 

Yet she  _ was  _ still an evil force that had reigned terror thirty years ago, and telling from the glowing green light that shone from her lair windows every night, she hadn’t abandoned her practices from the past. So, wouldn’t that be grounds for banishment again? Banishment from- where, really? The Hidden City? Was there even a spell that could do that? 

The officer sighed and her head fell into her hands. The dark mistress was clever, she’d give her that. Clever and cunning and  _ a pain in my back.  _

The mistresses' new portals didn’t enter the portal space that she was banned from; so her travelling between here and the city was completely in line with the rules of the banishment spell that had been placed on her. But how was she making these new portals? 

Padlaw shook her head. She wasn’t a scientist, or even that into mystic energy anyways. All she knew was that they had to do something about this new development. 

However, one last thing stood in her way; this particular crook was an ancient sorceress who could end them all with a glance. And she had found a way around the only way anyone in the Yokai world could think of to get rid of her. That made Padlaw pause. What if there was someone or something in the surface world that could do the trick?

She burst out in laughter at the ludicrous thought. Of course no one up could have any chance against the Heiress of Darkness. 

“Oh, I do crack myself up sometimes,” she muttered to herself.

Still, hours later, she made a little note on her desk. 

_ Surface? Help?  _

-/-

April shivered against the wall. She wanted to sleep. But every time she closed her eyes, she saw  _ her,  _ and the room, and the flash of light and-

She hugged her knees. Her headache had refused to fade and she was pretty sure three days had passed with only one meal a day to mark them off. As well as the regularly timed trips to the lab.

The lab- April flinched at the thought of it. She couldn’t go back there. Not again-

But she couldn’t give in. The lizard-like Yokai that saw to her torment asked questions regarding her family, and their location, and their names, but she refused to give them away. She would stay silent until they came for her. She would stay here… alone… until they noticed she was gone.

_ If they even notice in time, _ she thought. She sighed. She knew she shouldn’t give up hope. She knew they’d come, eventually, but-

But how would they even know she was missing? How would they even know where to find her? She felt a single tear roll down her face. It was lonely here. It was cold. And she’d be long gone even before her mom got home from her trip. Probably before anyone realized she was gone, anyways. 

For although the dark mistress never partook in any form of torment herself, she would talk every now and again from the shadows. About things April only half understood. 

“It doesn’t matter if you refuse to talk,” she’d coo at April. “You’ll be of such great use to us soon. By the end of this week, you’ll be the key to completing the great rite.” At this, April’s head had snapped up. The Heiress had noticed this, and smiled.

“Oh, yes, my dear. How does it feel to know that you will be the reason for the end of all human and mutant kind?” April had fought it, then. She had tried to escape before but had found the punishment for trying far exceeded the risk of freedom. But she had tried again then, pulling against the bindings that held her to her chair and resisting Jillian as she led April back to her cell. And she had raged and screamed at the walls until she fell into an exhausted sleep, just some hours ago. 

She rubbed her chafed wrists and winced as she rolled over onto her back, the burns smarting and sticking and the dried skin cracking. Brions preferred method of getting his prisoners to talk was particularly painful, and April wasn’t sure how much more of it she could take.

She wasn’t sure how many more trips to lab she could handle, both physically and mentally, either. For as terrible as Brion and his methods were, the thing April feared most was the creature that watched it all from the shadows, eyes glinting with joy as April grimaced and shook at each jab in the back from Brions electric staff. 

The thought of even seeing the dark lady again was torture enough.

But even as she had these thoughts, she heard the sounds of her two gargoyle jailers marching down the hallway. They reached into her cell and dragged her to her feet before she could even sit up straight, and carried her between them down the hall. April hadn’t realized when walking became difficult, but it was an effort to even half stumble along. She wanted water. She wanted  _ out. _

But as they neared the dark hallway that marked the entrance to the mistresses lab, all thoughts were again driven from her head.

_ Not again,  _ she thought, starting to shake.  _ Oh, please, not again. _

-/- 

Doctor O’Neil was sitting in his car, tapping the steering wheel impatiently. He was starting to get the feeling that he had been used. 

He checked his phone. It was the primary way the creepy little Yokai known as Brion contacted him. The secondary way was much worse; the lizard-demon  _ thing _ would slither up behind him and on the wall and scare a couple years out of him each time. 

But still, he thought, it was so worth it to see a Yokai! A real Yokai! He grinned at just the thought of it. After so long, to be so close with the creatures he had sought after for so long… ever since the day he had taken April out to the park at just seven years old. 

And he had seen what he thought was a Yokai for the first time.

He remembered a flash of green, then voices- children’s voices, that shrieked and laughed and spoke his daughters name. Voices that hushed as he had drawn near, to find his daughter standing alone, outside a sewer of all places and peering down into its depths, smiling. 

He leaned curiously over her shoulder as she turned to smile at him, and that’s when he saw them.

Two little turtle-like creatures, scurrying away into the dark. 

And even though April babled all week about “talking turtles!” and her new friends, he had refused their existence. Refused so profusely until he couldn’t help but believe they were real. Even after April mysteriously shut up about them. 

That had been when he had started searching. It had taken months, months of fruitless googling and sneaking and searching through the sewers themselves, until he felt ready to give in and call it quits. Until he was ready to admit to his confused and concerned wife that he had been wrong about everything he had spent the past half year searching for nothing- a simple dream, or hallucination.

But someone had come into his life before he could give in, speaking from the shadows of an alley and promising information answering every question he could even think of. 

That was ten years ago, when he met Brion. And slowly, over time, began to work for him and the Heiress. He began travelling abroad, doing research and trying to work his way into the Yokai world even though he barely ever got anywhere. And he had to admit, as his curiosity grew, his contact with his family dwindled. Disappeared. 

It had been three years since he had last visited his daughter. It had been less than a week since he had seen her. And his heart had stuttered. For the information Brion had given him told him that he would be witnessing a mutant that he had been spying on fighting a real Yokai (he was pretty certain he could tell the difference between the two species now). But he had also seen his daughter of all people, fighting it off, as well as the four turtles that had started it all.

And he had been over the moon. Finally, after a decade of work, he was going to get somewhere. 

He was going to make sure his daughter was never again in trouble from anything creepy or mysterious that could crawl out of the depths of the city. He had the Heiress to thank for this, and he had his own little tricks up his sleeve that could give any mystic being a nasty shock if they ever tried to cause any trouble. A “special device” if you will, to give him an upper hand.

He knew his device worked, for he had tried it on himself. And you can imagine his surprise when, a couple months after working for Brion, he found that a device that only worked on mystic beings worked on both him and his daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is the Heiress accessing the hidden city? Maybe Donnie can figure it out.
> 
> This chapter was tricky to write because it felt too static but the information felt necessary. Thank you so much for reading!


	6. The Search Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys scramble around New York to try to find April. Meanwhile, Splinter tries to make a phone call.

Mikey, once they had made it to April’s apartment and found it empty, was ready to throw some hands.

And one particularly fiery mystic kusari fundo. 

He had entered through the window to her room first, calling out “April!” quite gleeefully, in hopes she would be there. He found her home empty, with all the lights turned out, and dishes piled in the sink that were clearly a couple days old. 

The others he had let in through the front door (you could never be _too_ careful with New Yorkers reporting strange figures entering a fourth story window). They all gave their own search, checking every corner of the apartment in case their friend was crammed somewhere in a closet or had somehow gotten stuck in the refrigerator.

“Raph.” Donnies flat voice made Raph jump. “April’s _not_ going to be in the fridge.” Raph closed the door sheepishly and sighed. 

“Yeah, I know, but dad kept going on about April’s cooking last Saturday an’ I was hopin’ there’d be leftovers.” Donnie rolled his eyes while Mikey peered at the contents of the sink. Syrupy plates, white batter around a mixing bowl-

He frowned. “What did pops say they had for brunch when he came over?” He asked, wanting to be sure of his suspicion. 

Donnie thought for a moment. “If my memory serves, and let’s all be honest it ALWAYS does, they had omelets.” 

“Oh,” Mikey let out a sigh of relief. The contents of the sink pointed towards waffles or pancakes, not egg. That meant maybe she hadn’t been missing since Saturday, despite what Donnies phone- tracker said. 

“Oh!” Donnie exclaimed, still musing. “He also mentioned she made waffles _with_ the eggs, but that he liked the omelets best, and-“

“What?!” Mikey jumped up, running back to the sink. 

“No! That means she didn’t return to the apartment at all after brunch with pops!”

“How could you _possibly_ know that?” Asked Leo, leaning out from the laundry room, where he definitely hadn’t been checking the dryer for April and sneaking a selfie while wearing her _I heart warren stone_ t-shirts. 

“Look at the plates!” Mikey pointed at the sink, and the other three leaned in. Donnie flipped down his goggles. 

“Ah, traces of syrup, and a flour-based composition that has been watered down with-“

“It’s waffle batter!” Mikey cried, cutting off Donnie. “And look!” He pointed at on plate which was cleaner than the rest. “Splinter _always_ locks the syrup off the plates! These are from last _Saturday!”_

Donnie did a quick scan. “Hmm, yes, bacteria levels and general decay _do_ suggest a neglect period of 5 to 6 days…” He flipped his goggles up, not liking where this was going. Mikey wasn’t, either. He wanted to get moving again, but they had no where else to look. How were they going to find someone who had been missing for a week? Especially if the last person to have seen April was-

“Splinter!” Leo called, snapping his fingers. They all looked at him. “Guys,” he said excitedly, “ _splinter_ was the last one to be with April, right?” The nodded. 

“Get to the point, Leo,” Donnie prompted, feigning nonchalance despite desperately wanting to know where this was going. Leo only grinned. 

“So _Splinter_ could have seen where she went! Or maybe she would’ve told him? Like, what do people talk about during brunch, anyways?” 

“Doesn’t matter!” Said Raph, grabbing Leo by the shoulder and pulling him along behind him to the window. “If Splinter’s our best bet, then he’s who we gotta talk to!” 

“But, Raph,” Mikey stopped him, eyes going wide. “It’s already past 8 o’clock!”

Donnie frowned beside him. “You know what that means-“ 

“I know.” Raph cut in, closing his eyes resignedly. “It means we’re gonna hafta’ wake him up.”

“Oh no,” Leo said, arms going limp. 

-/-

Splinter was, at the moment, enjoying a nice dream about Dallas, a town he had spent a summer in over thirty years ago, when he felt something touch his shoulder. 

He swatted it away, focused on the pool his motel offered and the jumping board he was standing on, ready to show off his signature triple-backflip spin and dive combo, when- 

“Dad!” 

_Dad?_ He thought. _There is no one here who should be calling me-_

“Oi! Pops! WAKE UP YOU LAZY LUMP-ON-A-LOG!” Mikeys voice tore through the dream and pulled his eyes open, and he glared at his youngest with a groan. 

“Michelangelo. _What_ have I _told you_ about-“

“I know I know! But it's _important_!” Mikey protested. The others nodded. Splinter started to close his eyes again. 

“Oh, no you don’t!” Raph cried, grabbing his dads robe by the collar and pulling him out of bed. “Donnie, get the shower ready.”

“Already on it.” Donnie ran ahead to the bathroom and turned the shower on cold, and as Raph entered the room dragging Splinter who (surprise surprise) was asleep again, he angled the shower head right into the comatose rat’s face.

“ARGHHH!” Splinter cried, spitting water. “Purple! What is the meaning of this!” 

“Dad, we think April’s missing!” Raph explained, watching as his fathers face changed from irritated to alarmed. 

“Missing? Missing what!” He demanded, jumping up and throwing his hands in multiple directions. Donnie swerved, barely missing a hand to the face. 

“ _No,”_ groaned Raph. “She’s MIA!”

“How? Since when?” Splinter sputtered.

“We don’t _know!”_ Mikey told him.

“That’s the whole _problem,_ ” Leo went on, “we’ve checked everywhere she could be- her _house,_ the _sewers,_ her _laundry-_ “

“Leo, none of us checked her laundry.” Raph crossed his arms at him, but Splinter piped up. He had a thought.

“Did you boys check the hidden city?” 

They all turned to stare at him. 

“The hidden city?” Asked Mikey. “Why would we check the-“

“But of course!” Donnie cried, making the others jump. “Think about it,” he went on, “April’s last known locations were her apartment, but then she sent a message from ‘ _location unknown_ ’. That would have _had_ to have been from the hidden city!” He began furiously typing on his wrist pad. “If I can just- aha!” He rushed out of the room. The others ran after him, except for Raph, who stayed with Splinter. 

Splinter looked down at his feet, scowling slightly. Raph noticed this and sat beside him on the edge of the tub.

“What’s troublin’ you, pops?” He asked, placing an oversized hand on Splinters shoulder.

“I don’t know. I feel worried about your friend.” He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had had something to do with this all. He shook his head and smiled at his son. “Go. See what got purple so excited. I will try to contact someone from the hidden city, and see if they know anything.” Raph raised his eyes in surprise. “You know people from the hidden city?” He asked. “Since when?”

“What do you mean, _since when?_ It’s not like, I was held prisoner there for years and fought multiple battles in the nexus as a hero to the Yokai kind, hmm? Hmm?” Splinter sputtered. Raph looked down sheepishly. “Sorry, pop. I forgot. I’ll go check in with Donnie, if you don’t mind.” Splinter nodded. As his son left, he sighed and kicked a towel over the puddle on the floor. 

He had a sick feeling that he knew something, something _important,_ but he just couldn’t remember what.

He shook his head irritably again and headed for the kitchen to make tea. He was going to have to keep his nerves calm and his wits about him if he was going to make this phone call.

Big Mama wasn’t going to tolerate any slip up on his part, but she knew everything going on in both New York and the Yokai metropolis deep below it, through her web of informants and businesses. He knew he’d have to be careful with the conversation if he didn’t want to end up caught in that web.

-/- 

Donnie was typing furiously on his computer, goggles reflecting back lines of code and mouth scrunched up in concentration. He had to _focus,_ he needed to find his _friend,_ and if they didn’t soon she could be hurt, or injured, or- 

He stopped typing suddenly and blinked. No, those _weren’t_ tears and that _wasn’t_ fear he felt welling up inside, he told himself. He had just had to finish coding for his new idea, and then they could find April and everything would be perfect again. She would make fun of his new obsession with mystic portals and he would tease her about having a crush on a man who turned into a worm. Then they all would order pizza and get snacks and watch action movies and-

_I swear if we find her I’ll watch whatever movie she wants, even if it’s Jupiter Jim and the Revenge of the Moon Goblins,_ he promised to himself, even though atomic lass didn’t show up for a single scene in said film. 

He pressed enter.

A gps like the one before flickered onto his screen, and Mikey and Leo looked up from where they had been Messing around with his stuff over in the corner.

“Behold, gentlemen,” Donnie held out his hands to the map. “A complete rendition of all the portals to the Yokai world in New York, and beyond! We find the one nearest Aprils last location, and we have a starting point to search the hidden city.” Mikey ‘ooohed’ and ‘awwed.’ 

“Nice work!” He pressed his face to the screen. “Are they invisible?”

“Are they invisa- what- _no, they are not ‘_ invisible,’ Mikey,” Donnie sputtered, sighing into his hand.

“Then where are they, bro?” Leo asked, gesturing to the map. “There’s _nothing there.”_

“There’s everything there!” Donnie snapped, jumping up.

“Mikey, I think Donnie finally lost it. You make a run for it, and I’ll distract him so you can escape.” 

“I have _not_ gone crazy!” 

“Who’s gone crazy?” Raph asked, walking in. Leo pointed at Donnie, who exploded.

“The _map_ is just the representation of the _program_ which I have downloaded to the tanks _interface_ . It needs Leo’s _sword,_ a connection to the portal _world,_ to actually _work.”_ Donnie gritted out. Leo held his odachi closer protectively. “Woah-woah-woah! You are _not_ getting your hands on my sword! Isn’t that right, darling,” he said to it, making Raph roll his eyes.

“Guys!” He snapped, making them all jump, “this is _serious._ We can’t waste time worrying about who’s using who’s sword, or what program looks like what. So let’s get in the tank and _find April_ before it’s too late!” He lifted Mikey onto his shoulder and stomped to the garage, while Donnie and Leo settled for a shoving match behind his back.

Raph had to admit, his worry was getting to him. He needed to keep it cool around his brothers or else they’d get nervous too, but sometimes they needed a forceful shove in a productive direction. 

They made it to the tank and Donnie held out his hand expectantly. 

“Why can’t you just use _your_ mystic crystal thingy?”

“Because it’s not _connected_ the same _energy_ as yours!”

“ _Uggghhh, fine,”_ groaned Leo. “For April. But if you so dare to-“

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll be angry or whatever,” Donnie waves a hand at him, already engrossed in connecting wires from the tank to Leo’s sword. Leo crossed his arms but settled back as the map reappeared, but this time, little blue dots started blinking up all around it. 

“Yesssss!” Hissed Donnie as his invention worked. “Now _that,_ my friends, is a true display of what you can do with Ohms-“ 

“Oh! Look! That one must be Hueso’s restaurant!” Mikey cried, pointing at the dot that stamped the street outside the Run of the Mill Pizzeria. Donnie blinked. 

“Ah, good eye, Micheal. Now, we just need to find the one closest to April’s last phone signal and-“

_Click_! The screen zoomed in on a blue dot, in an alley just outside her apartment. 

“Looks like a dumpster portal, to me,” Leo said, adjusting fake glasses and peering closer.

“Hey, isn’t that the one we used a couple weeks ago after shred-head?” Asked Raph. Donnie nodded. 

“You are correct, dear brother- that’s probably why April knew about it.”

“But how did she open it?” Asked Mikey. The others looked to each other. 

“Maybe draxum?” Asked Leo. “He would probably know if a portal was in his literal _backyard,_ right?”

“No,” Splinter said from behind them, making them all jump. “It was me.”

“What!” Mikey shouted, eyes widening. “You let April into the hidden city and didn’t tell us-“

“Aha! It was Splinter all along!” Cried Donnie. “Leo, grab the shackles!”

“On it!”

“GUYS!” Raphs voice cut in. “The tank doesn’t even _have_ shackles-“

“How would you know,” muttered Donnie under his breath.

“- and it was _not_ pops. He just- what did you do?” Raph turned to look at his dad.

Splinter sighed. “I am not one hundred percent sure. More like ninety-five.”

“I appreciate your use of appropriate stats!” Donnie said. 

“-Or maybe sevent-eight? Mmmm, more like fifty-three.” Splinter mused as Donnie deflated. 

“Anyways, what I was going to say is I opened that dumpster-“ and here he pointed to the satellite image Donnie had pulled up- “last week-end so April could throw out the trash. I thought nothing of it, until now, when I see it that it is truly a portal.”

Here Splinter sat on the drivers chair dejectedly. “I fear my ignorant actions have lead to April’s disappearance. If she is truly gone, I-“

“Dad! Don’t think like that!” Raph put a hand in his back.

“We’ll get April back in no-time, lickety split!” Mikey added, grinning at Leo. “Plus, April’s tough. She can handle anything the hidden city can throw at her.”

“Including giant monster squid-beasts.” Donnie chimed in. Splinter smiled. “Thank you, boys. I just came in here to tell you good luck. I will try to contact other Yokai to see if they know anything, and I will text you what I have learned!”

“Hmm, with _your_ particular history with phones I think it would be better if you would just call us.” Donnie interjected. Splinter puffed himself up. 

“I know how to work the eye-messages! I will use the text and I will use it well!” Then he settled. “Good luck, my sons. Bring her home.” They all stilled for a second, the reality sinking in a bit more. April was truly missing, and it was their job to bring her back.

They just had to find her first.

  
  


-/-

Splinter picked up his phone with a frown. He was dreading the conversation he was about to have.

Still, he stole a breath and dialled a number he had committed to memory many years ago. It was a shot in the dark, he thought as the phone rang. 

Ludicrous, to think this work work.   
  


_ Brring! _

And even if she answered, why would she listen?

_ Brring! _

Maybe he should just hang up and try again next year…

_ Brring! _

_ No, _ he thought.  _ For April. _

_ Brring! _

For your boys.

_ Brring! _

For… honor? Duty?

Click!

“Hell _ ooo?”  _ Came a high voice, soft as spiders silk. Splinter froze. Her voice continued.

“Hello! I am  _ not  _ going to wait around all day, and if you are one of those  _ telly-marketeers  _ I will send my people down-“

“Hello.” Splinters voice cut of her rant before she could finish her threat. He could hear her breathing on the other side of the phone.

“That isn’t-  _ no.” _

“It is. I have a favor to ask of you, Big Mama.”

“A  _ favour?”  _ She seethed. “What do you mean  _ you  _ have a favour to ask? Telling from our recent  _ history, _ it is I that should be asking  _ favours!” _

“Not when my son and I already paid the price for said favor, making it a purchase and not an actual dictionary favor!” Splinter bursted, then sighed. He was getting off topic.

“I wanted to know…”

“Yessss?”

“...if you knew of any new  _ Yokai _ that have risen to power in the hidden city.” He decided it was best not to mention April, in case she got the idea that if she captured someone, they’d go looking for them. 

She paused. “Oh, I might,” he could hear the smile in her voice, and knew what was about to come.

“But what will you give me for the answer?” 

-/-

Donnies phone buzzed as they drove the tank past a busy highway leading to Times Square. 

“Oh, look, Splinter got his phone working, what a surprise.” His voice was flat, lacking any surprise. 

“Dad actually contacted someone?” Mikey asked, trying to look at Donnie's phone. 

“He  _ says, _ ” Donnie replied, holding his phone closer out of Mikey's view, “that there is in fact someone causing trouble on the streets of the mystic city.”

“Just like April said!” Cried Raph from the driver's seat, swerving to avoid a very fearless taxi driver.

“Yes, indeed. Wait, he’s texting more.”

_ S: they are said to operate on the north side of town.  _

_ S: they are very ancient, and have gotten in trouble before. She has this old lair, that only the older Yokai know about, tucked under a mountain cliff.  _

_ S: I am told many people know about her, but not why she is back or what she will do next. _

Donnie told all this to the others.

“Well, what’s her name?” Asked Leo. Donnie checked his phone.

“She’s called- “ he gulped, and the others stared. 

“She’s called the Heiress of Darkness.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, here we go! The boys are about to enter the hidden city; will they find April soon? Will splinter make a deal? And what is the doctor doing during all this time? 
> 
> Aha I’m just kidding. Questions aside, I find making little mysteries throughout the story really helps drive the plot. I want to tackle where the mystic weapons came from soon, so stay tuned!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading.


End file.
